Zalando displays Swiss prices with the old franc symbol

Here's what it's all about

• Many users noticed that Zalando was displaying prices in its dynamic Instagram ads using the ₣ symbol—the historical symbol for the French franc—instead of the Swiss franc.
• The symbol was proposed in 1988 for the French franc and is still included in the Unicode character set today, even though the currency has not existed since 2002.
• Zalando attributed the error to an interface between the company and Meta, but did not elaborate on how the ad came to be and simply stated that the problem had been resolved.

Summary created with

Anyone who’s ever spent time on Instagram, TikTok, and similar platforms knows that subtle feeling that something is listening in—and then suddenly, ads on that very topic appear. While major advertising and tech companies like Meta deny that they’re eavesdropping on our daily lives, there’s one thing they can’t deny: all the data these companies collect about us is used for targeted advertising.

Particularly striking are the so-called “Dynamic Ads”—or, in German, “dynamic advertising.” This feature displays a personalized selection of products to each user. Young and male? Then even Migros will advertise packs of condoms. Summer and hot? Then Zalando proactively displays ads for rain jackets so that you’re prepared for any weather on the Gurten.

Regarding the latter, some users may have noticed something: The Zalando ad did not display the product prices in CHF or “Fr.,” but rather using a modified version of the letter F with an additional horizontal line: ₣.

Querstrich-F: A Relic from 1988

Older readers may recall that this was, in fact, how the franc was sometimes abbreviated. But not in Switzerland—in France. Until the introduction of the euro in 2002, the currency of our western neighbor was called the “French franc.”

Starting in 1988, the currency symbol “₣” was proposed for it—similar to the U.S. dollar “$,” the British pound sterling “£,” or the Ukrainian hryvnia “₴.”The horizontal-bar “F” did not quite manage to prevail over “FF,” but it was nevertheless included in the Unicode character set, which is why it can still be displayed on computers today.

Zalando has corrected the errors

But how did this symbol—which has long since become irrelevant—end up in the Zalando ad? An attempt to trace its origins was thwarted by a media relations office that was unwilling to provide more than a brief response to the questions posed. “The issue stemmed from an interface between us and Meta/Instagram,” the Zalando spokesperson wrote in response to our inquiry. Questions about how such ads are created and whether people design them manually remained unanswered.

Still, the spokesperson goes on to say that the error has “just been corrected” before signing off with best regards from Berlin.

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